Sandusky gets the life term he deserves for Penn State sex crimes

Jerry Sandusky got what he richly deserved Tuesday when he was sentenced to a minimum 30-year jail term for sexually abusing young people while he was a coach with the Penn State football team.

The actual sentence is for 30-60 years. According to Pennsylvania law he cannot be paroled before the minimum 30 years. Sandusky is 68, effectively making the judgment a life sentence.

He was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, involving 10 boys over a 15-year period. Eight of the victims testified against him, accusing him of a range of sexual acts, including oral sex and anal intercourse. Associated Press reported:

One of the prosecution’s star witnesses, former graduate assistant Mike McQueary, testified that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a locker room shower.Witnesses said Sandusky used the charitable organization he founded for troubled children as his personal hunting ground to find and groom boys to become his victims.

Yet despite so much damning testimony from so many people, Sandusky still insists he did nothing wrong.

In a three-minute monologue aired Monday night by Penn State Com Radio that used some of the same language as his courtroom statement, Sandusky said he knows in his heart that he did not do what he called “these alleged disgusting acts” and described himself as the victim of a co-ordinated conspiracy among Penn State, investigators, civil attorneys, the media and others.

His statement in court lasted 15 minutes and his voice cracked as he spoke of missing his loved ones.

The university has paid a heavy price for trying to shield its prized football program from the fallout of the scandal. Sandusky’s boss, the once-revered Joe Paterno, died as his reputation was being shredded and his statue removed from its perch at the university. The university president lost his job, football scholarships have been reduced, a $60-million fine levied and Penn State’s team banned from post-season play. Legal actions could drag the university through court for years to come.

All too defend the fetish with football that affects so many U.S. colleges. None of the penalties will ever end the suffering the victims endured, and continue to endure. And while justice was swift once it finally got underway, it took a cruelly long time for the facts to come out and the abuse to be halted. Perhaps the heavy cost, the ruined reputations, the shattered careers and the long-term impact on what was once a much-admired school will have some long-term effect, in bringing home to authorities the full horror that is involved in such cases and the critical need to act on suspicions when they are raised. The priority must always be on helping the victims, not on safeguarding reputations and heading off financial penalties.

As Sandusky’s ongoing denials demonstrate, the perpetrators of such crimes are often too warped to admit the reality of their acts to themselves. That puts all the more responsibility on those around them to act to halt the damage caused by their cruel acts.

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.